


as the rains come

by wibbelkind



Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: Canonballed, F/M, Fights, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-20
Updated: 2014-09-01
Packaged: 2018-02-13 23:23:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2169213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wibbelkind/pseuds/wibbelkind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She would've thought it's all over after Claudio leaves, John and Pedro in tow. (And why the heck would Pedro side with Claudio? And WHO THE HECK INVITED JOHN ANYWAY?) What Beatrice doesn't see coming is Hero's asthma attack.</p><p>A take on what happens after Hero's fateful sweet-sixteen birthday party, hopefully soon to be canonballed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I am finally publishing fanfiction. Because that’s on my To-Do-List this year. And my recent love affair with “Nothing Much To Do” apparently doesn’t stop at edits.
> 
> So this is me and my take on how things went last night. Written somewhere between last night and now. I haven’t revised this, I haven’t written fanfiction in years and I’m still not very used to these characters. So if you comment, be gentle.

She would've thought it's all over after Claudio leaves, John and Pedro in tow.

(And why the heck would Pedro side with Claudio? And WHO THE HECK INVITED JOHN ANYWAY?)

Thank God for Meg who somehow manages to dissolve the party.

(“Out! Everybody out! This party's over!” She crashes on the couch a few moments later, due to the blissful combination of alcohol, sugar and exhaustion.)

What Beatrice doesn't see coming is Hero's asthma attack.

  
  


No one saw it coming. There hadn't been any attacks in years, it was almost as if Hero was a completely normal, health person. And then, all of the sudden – BOOM. Hero, curled up on her bed, sobbing, cries turning into gasps for air. Bea does the only thing she knows how to do in the situation – panic.

“Someone call 111!”, she shouts down the stairs, her voice sounding broken and high-pitched. She rummages through her cousins drawers, looking for Hero's inhaler. There's steps on the stairs, of several people coming up.

“What's going on?”, Leo asks, kneeling down next to Hero. (Stupid drunk cousin. Shouldn't he be the responsible one? Shouldn't he be the one looking out for his sister instead of siding with his football team?)

“HerohasanasthmattackandIdunnowhattodo-”, Bea blurts out, still panicky.

“I can drive”, another voice say. “We can get her to A&E in no time.”

Benedick. Of course. The only person aside from her who hasn't been drinking the entire night.

“No!”, she shoots back angrily. “We need an ambulance!”

Leo has picked up the gasping Hero and is already on his way out. “No discussion, Bea!”, he interrupts her. “Ben drives. A&E. Now.”

  
  


They leave Ursula in charge because Bea doesn't trust Benedick and a drunk Leo with Hero and Leo doesn't trust Beatrice with driving and Benedick already has already started the ignition of the car when they get out. It's a quiet drive to the hospital, the silence in the car only disrupted by Hero coughing and wheezing. They drop her off at A&E who immediately supply Hero with an oxygen mask. Leo goes to fill out some forms which leaves Beatrice and Benedick standing in the waiting hall. It takes her a moment to realise this, that she's still standing there, staring at the hallway where they took Hero. Then she huffs, turns around and sits down on one of the chairs in the corner, burying her head in her hands.

She doesn't look up but she knows it's Benedick sitting down next to her. He smells faintly like aftershave and something else. At least he doesn't reek of alcohol, like Leo. She hiccups.

“Are you alright?”, Ben asks.

She's ready to defend herself, to defend Hero, to argue, anything. She didn't expect this sentiment. It takes her a second before she looks up and snaps back: “What do you think? My cousins in the ED thanks to your stupid, ignorant, misogynistic, jealous best friend who clearly doesn't check his facts very well.”

“I didn't mean...” He sighs. “Do you need anything? Something to drink? Tissues? Gum?”

Bea shakes her head, biting the insides of her cheeks now. She concentrates on her breathing. In. Out. In. And out.

  
  


“So, uh... What exactly happened?”, Benedick asks after a while.

She looks at him as if he's stupid.

“What do you mean what happened?”, she retorts. “You saw what happened. Your jerk-friend Claudio ruined my cousins sweet-sixteen birthday party and she had an asthma attack.”

“No, I mean, what... I know what Claudio thinks happened-”

“You do?”

“Yeah, and even though I don't know Hero very well, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't cheat on Claudio. I mean, you've seen those two, being all sickly sweet and lovey-dovey and- What?”

Beatrice stares at him, mouth wide open in disbelief. “You're siding with Hero on this?”, she asks.

He hesitates. “Uhmm...”

“Spill, Dickface!”

“Okayokayokay!” He throws up his hands in defense. “Pedro, John and Claudio think they saw Robbie get into your house”, he says. “They think that he and Hero... had sex.”

“WHAT?”

“I know, that's what I thought-”

“Hero would never- Ugh!”

“I'm pretty sure, there must've been a mix-up or something-”

“When was that?”

“What?”

“When did they say they saw Hero and Robbie?”

“Must've been... two weeks ago or so?”

Beatrice counts back the days in her head. Two weeks ago. What had Hero done two weeks ago?

“Sleepover”, she suddenly realises.

Benedick looks at her, a confused look on her face.

“We had a sleepover that weekend. We watched movies all night, Hero couldn't have- Meg!”

“Huh?”

“Meg was there- well, some of the time. She must've...” Bea's voice fades and she stares at the floor, trying to sort her thoughts.

“You think they didn't see Hero and Robbie but... Meg and Robbie?”, Benedick tries to help her out. “I thought they were broken up.”

“They weren't”, Bea says. “Not at the time, at least.”

“Oh.”

  
  


She wants to scream at someone, punch someone in the face. More precisely, she wants to punch Claudio for being a jealous jerk, Robbie for sneaking into their house in the middle of the night to have sex with his girlfriend and Pedro, John and Leo for believing Claudio rather than Hero. To her surprise, the person she doesn't want to punch right now is Benedick. Usually, he's the first in line.

“What're you thinking?”, he asks, quietly. They're both in the same hunched-over position, staring at the waiting hall floor.

“Killing Claudio”, she mutters. It's an exaggeration but that's how she feels right now. She wants to hurt the boy who hurt her cousin.

“That's harsh”, Benedick remarks. “Do you really think Claudio's the bad guy here?”

“Oh sure, like he didn't just insult my cousin in every way possible, breaking her heart and triggering an asthma attack!” Bea sits up straight, glaring at him.

“I didn't mean-”

“No, of course, you're siding with him after all!”

“That's not what I mean, Beatrice, what I mean-”

“Hey guys.” Leo stands before them. “I talked to the doctors, they said Hero's going to be alright. She'll be out of the hospital in no time.”

“Great”, Beatrice says, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “So now the shock's over and you can go back and accuse her of infidelity and whatnot instead of taking her side like a brother would?”

“What'd you say?”

Bea's gotten up but she's not nearly the height of her older cousin. But she can still glare at him, one head smaller as she is.

“What has gotten into you?”, she hisses. “You're just as bad as all the guys! Did you really think Hero did that? Cheat on Claudio? Do you even KNOW your sister?”

“Well, what happened then?”, Leo snaps back. “Why is her boyfriend suddenly accusing her of cheating? Something must've set him off-”

“He saw ROBBIE getting into our house TWO WEEKS AGO when we were having that sleepover!”

“What was Robbie doing at our house?”

“We assume he and Meg had sex”, Benedick intervenes. “At your house. Two weeks ago.”

“But- what?” Leo looks from Beatrice to Benedick and back.

“Yeah”, Beatrice huffs. “Meanwhile Hero was downstairs watching films with Ursula and me- she didn't do ANYTHING you guys think she did.”

  
  


Leo's quiet after that. He just sits down on an empty chair, head in hands. He doesn't look up to see Beatrice, arms crossed, still mad. After a while she turns around and storms off.

“Hey, where're you going?” Benedick's quick to follow her.

“Out”, she says. “Somewhere. Air.”

She waves her hands around in loss for words. The sliding door of the hospital entrance opens and closes and then they're standing in the cold night air. She didn't take this into account. It's COLD and she's wearing nothing but her cream coloured lace party dress and a sweatshirt she threw on in the hurry of getting Hero to the hospital. She shivers.

“You're freezing”, Benedick states. “We should go back-”

“No.” Beatrice shakes her head. “I am not going- I am so mad- How can he- Ugh!”

“Come on then”, he says. She frowns at him.

“It's warmer in the car”, he explains.

She lets out a sigh and then follows him along.

  
  


He's got the car parked about a block away and he opens the door for her before he gets into the driver's seat and turns on the heating system. Bea falls into the passenger seat beside him, slamming the car door closed.

(Like she can open her own car door thank you very much!)

“Music?”, Ben asks.

She just shrugs, so he turns on the head unit. There's already a CD inside and it starts playing before he can ask her what kind of music she'd like.

“Sorry, this is Balthazar's...”, he says when Mumford & Sons fills the car. She shakes her head.

“It's fine”, she mutters and leans back, closing her eyes.

It's easier to blend out everything that's happened when there's music surrounding her. She's been angry with the boys and worried about Hero the whole night and now she's finally reached her breaking point. Silent tears escape her closed eyes, rolling over her cheeks and hanging at her chin before dripping down onto her own chest.

(Because, honestly, how is this all real? Hero didn't deserve any of this. Sweet, innocent, just-turned-sixteen Hero.)

  
  


“Here.” She opens her eyes to see Benedick offering her a pack of tissues. She takes one, wiping her cheeks and blowing her nose.

“Thanks”, she murmurs.

He gives her a quick smile, it vanishes in an instant. “No problem.”

She looks at him, really looks at him for the first time this evening.

“What are you even doing here, Benedick?”, she asks quietly. He lets out a small laughter as if she's being funny.

“I'm here for you”, he replies after a few seconds. “Because in case you haven't noticed, I care about you.”

She lets the words sink in.

(I care about you. I'm here for you. Is this it then? Is this where he confesses his undying love for her? Because she's not sure how that's going to go for him. Her own heart is a miracle to her these days.)

“Thank you”, she whispers and before she can think about it more, she slides her hand into his. It's not sweaty, or clammy, or gross. It's warm and dry and Ben's thumb brushing over the back of her hand calms her in an inexplicable way.

(So maybe she was wrong. Maybe it isn't so bad to hold hands after all.)

She leans back into the passenger seat, closing her eyes again. Benedick shuffles around next to her and when squints at him, she realises he's doing the same thing. So they sit there in his car, closed eyes, holding hands, listening to Mumford & Sons. It's almost comforting.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’ve continued this. I’ve been in kind of a flow these days and I couldn’t stop writing. So here’s some more. Freshly written, unrevised… Same as the last one. (I’m also sorry for the massive swearing, in the last part and in this one as well…)

She wakes up, curled up in the passenger seat of a car, and it takes her a moment to realise where she is. She stretches and almost hits Benedick. He's asleep in the driver's seat, face pressed against the window, mouth hanging slightly open. Beatrice has to suppress a giggle and fishes for her phone in her sweatshirt's pocket to take a picture of this ridiculousness.

Careful to turn off the camera sound, she gets several good shots, before taking a closer look at the 7 missed calls and 19 text messages. They're from Leo, Ursula, Meg and Pedro. She opens the latter's message first.

_Ben texted me. Told me what happened 2 Hero. Sorry about everything. Call me, please._

She frowns at her phone but doesn't delete the message. Then she goes through both Meg's and Ursula's messages, they're worried about Hero and want news that Bea really can't give them. The missed calls are from them as well, plus Leo, several ones. There's only one message from him

_Where are you guys?_

  
  


Bea sighs and gets out of the car. (She has to unlock the doors from inside first. Apparently Ben didn't fall asleep without a thought about safety like her.) She walks a bit away from the car before she pulls up Leo's number and calls him. He answers at the third ring.

“Morning, Bea”, he says. His voice sounds raspy, like he has a cold.

“We slept in the car”, she replies without waiting for the question. “Nothing happened.”

“I know.”

“You know?”

“Ben texted me last night. Said you were sleeping and he didn't want to wake you.”

“Well, joke's on him, now he's sleeping too.”

“But good to know nothing happened. Whatever you mean by that.” She can hear in his voice that he's smiling. He's her cousin, she knows him well enough for that.

They fall silent for a moment.

“You still mad at me?”, he finally asks. When she doesn't answer, he continues: “I shouldn't have done that. Yesterday. I was an ass about it, about everything. I should've listened to you in the first place. You know Hero better than anyone.”

“No, that's your job, Leo”, Beatrice interrupts him. “I know I said there shouldn't be an older-brother-card but that doesn't mean you should stop acting like one. She's your sister. Hero's your SISTER. And you ALWAYS take her side and protect her if anyone attacks her because THAT'S what big brothers are for. So don't you go on apologising to me about it. You need to apologise to HERO.”

There's silence on the line, then: “Okay. Understood.”

(It feels strangely relieving to finally get that off her chest, and to be taken seriously for it.)

“The doctors say we can take her home after another check-up anyway”, Leo adds. “You want to see her?”

“Yes!”, she blurts out without a thought. Because she won't believe that Hero's alright until she's seen her herself.

  
  


She has to wake up Benedick first, so she walks around the car, knocking at the window. He almost jumps out of his seat, looking around confusedly and then rolling down the window.

“Morning, Benedick”, she says, with a smirk on her face.

(She still can't force herself to just call him Ben. At least this is progress from “Dickface”.)

He runs his fingers through his dark hair and she wants to tell him to stop because it's messy anyway, it's always messy.

“Morning, Beatrice”, he replies, grinning up at her, and he sounds as if her name is the most beautiful word in the world.

It almost makes her go back to calling him “Dickface” again because she doesn't need this weirdness inside her stomach, but they're being civil right now, so there he goes.

“I'll go check on Hero now”, she says. “If you want to go home, that's fine-”

“Give me a sec.” He rummages through his glove compartment and then gets out of the car, locking it after he's closed the door.

“Gum?”, he asks, offering her some peppermint flavoured one.

She hesitates for a moment but then comes to the conclusion that she probably has horrible breath and she won't be able to brush her teeth for another few hours, so this is the best she can do.

“Thanks”, she mutters, taking one.

  
  


Hero's awake and breathing and smiling and it almost brings Beatrice to tears to see her in a hospital gown in a hospital bed. Their hug is careful, as if her cousin is made of porcelain and could shatter any minute.

“I'm so glad you're okay”, Beatrice says.

(Of course that's not the truth. What she means is: “I'm glad you're physically okay and healthy.” She doesn't need to look twice to see that Hero's still heartbroken.)

She turns to look at Leo who waits behind her. “I think I'll leave you two alone”, she says.

Leo just nods at her and she strokes Hero's head one last time before she leaves the room. She doesn't need to hear this, this is between the two Duke siblings and she expects Leo not to mess it up again.

  
  


When she comes back to the waiting hall, Benedick's sitting there in one of the chairs. For the moment he doesn't realise she's back, she can watch him freely. He looks a bit lost and out of place, in his black skinny jeans, shirt and blazer.

(She also realises that he cleans up quite nicely and she might have a thing for guys in skinny jeans.)

“Hey”, she greets him, sitting down next to him. “About last night...”

“It's okay”, he says. “Don't mention it.”

“You don't even know what I'm talking about”, she laughs, playfully shoving him.

He grins back at her. “So what are you talking about?”, he retorts.

She bites the insides of her cheeks again, considering her words.

“Just... you... being there. Helping. And me... crying. And the.... the hand holding.”

“What about the hand holding?”

His grin is getting cheeky now. It makes her nervous and defensive.

“Not a word to anyone”, she warns him.

The grin vanishes and he nods. Good to know she can still make him nervous.

  
  


It takes another hour until Hero is released from the hospital and she and Leo come out, holding hands. She looks like she's been crying but at least everything between the siblings seems to be alright.

If Benedick's being there confuses her, she doesn't let it show. In return, Benedick is being nicer than ever to her, inquiring (unnecessarily) after her health and making an awkward comment about how he'll be her chauffeur today. It brings a smile to Bea's face that quickly disappears when Hero turns to look at her.

Leo signs a few papers and then returns.

“Let's get you home, then”, he says, squeezing Hero's shoulder.

She smiles up at him, that unsure, careful Hero-smile. She's nowhere near okay but at least she's breathing again.

  
  


Benedick drops them off at their home. Leo takes Hero inside immediately which leaves Beatrice to say goodbye to Benedick.

“Guess I'll see you at school on Monday then”, he says.

She shrugs her shoulders, staring out through the windscreen.

“Wouldn't be so sure about that”, she replies. “This might take some time to process.”

“Yes, for Hero, sure, but you're okay, aren't you?”

She bites the insides of her cheeks again. They're starting to get raw.

“Beatrice?” He taps her shoulder carefully and she looks up at him.

“You know I'll probably beat up Claudio if I go to school on Monday, don't you?”, she asks.

He grins and shakes his head.

“Not if I get to him first”, he retorts. Then his smile vanishes. “You should talk to Pedro though.”

“Like he'd believe me.”

“He's not that bad. He'll listen to reason.”

“I don't know, ever since...”

“Since what?”

“Since I rejected him.”

She mumbles the last few words, blushing, and Ben won't stop bugging her to repeat herself, until she shouts “I REJECTED PEDRO DONALDSON!”, which makes them both laugh.

(Like whole-body-shaking-laugh. It's fun to shout in a car.)

“Thanks”, she says. “I'll see you... when I see you.”

“Okay.” He nods at her. “See you around, Beatrice.”

And before she can do anything stupid, she gets out of the car, walking to the house without turning back around.

  
  


The house is spotless. An upside of having Ursula watch it, apparently. She's cleaned up all remnants of last night's party, before crashing on the couch. Meg left early in the morning, hung over and still in her party dress.

Ursula mutters something about how she probably “won't be answering her phone for the next twelve hours”.

Beatrice hugs her because she can't think of anything else and then tells her to go home and get some rest as well.

“You're the best, Ursula”, she says her goodbyes, waving at her friend cycling down the street. Luckily there's no sign of Benedick in a car anywhere.

  
  


When she goes upstairs, there's a shower running. She sticks her head in Hero's room – no sign of her cousin. So it must be her, showering. Good call. She might go in after Hero's done as well. She smells like sweat and Benedick's car, a combination of smells she really doesn't want to linger.

While she waits, she sits down in her room, staring at the walls. After a while she starts scrolling through her contacts. It still has Benedick saved as “Dickface”. Her finger hovers over the contact for a moment, then she goes ahead, changing it. “Benedick Hobbes”. He deserves as much after this night.

For a moment she contemplates calling him.

(Just to talk. He's gotten really good at listening to her rants. And he's on her side. For once in her life.)

Instead she scrolls down some more. Might as well get it over with. Before she can convince herself that this is stupid, she hits the call button.

  
  


It takes a while until someone answers. Sleepy voice.

“Hello?”

She imagines Pedro, hair all messed up, rubbing his eyes. It almost subdues any feelings of anger she has toward him right now. She takes a deep breath.

“Bea?”

“I'm still mad at you, you know?”, she says without a greeting.

She can hear Pedro chuckle.

“Wouldn't have expected anything different”, he replies. “And I don't think an apology will be enough.”

“You bet it won't.”

“I've been a huge ignorant misogynistic ass about the whole situation.”

“Better.”

“And turns out Claudio's jealous streak isn't exactly little.”

“HE'S A TOTAL ASSHOLE!”

“Yes.”

“HE JUMPED TO CONCLUSIONS AND HE RUINED HERO'S PARTY!”

“Totally true.”

“SHE ENDED UP IN HOSPITAL! SHE COULD'VE DIED!”

“I think you're exaggerating-”

“SHUT UP PEDRO! UGH!” She flops down on her bed. “I could strangle you right now!”

“Okay, Bea, I get that you're angry-”

“Yes I am! Obviously!”

“-and I'm sorry-”

“Hah!”

“-but what can I do? I'm not the bad guy here.”

“Well, you're consorting with him!”

“Claudio? Yes, he messed up, big time! That doesn't mean we have to cut all the strings. He needs to understand what he's done and that he's wrong.”

“He needs to be punished!”

“Whoa! Slow down!”

“Well, saying sorry doesn't cut it any more. There's got to be consequences!”

“We'll figure it out, okay? First of all we have to clear up what went wrong and what exactly happened. You running around screaming JUSTICE doesn't really help the cause.”

She huffs but she knows Pedro's right about this.

“Somebody needs to talk to Meg”, Pedro continues. “If she doesn't already know what's going on. If what you say is true... then it must've been Meg and Robbie we saw in Hero's room.”

“YOU saw them in HERO'S ROOM?”

“Yeah, well, it was at night, so we only saw a light come on and silhouettes in the room-”

“I still can't believe YOU were there as well. What is WRONG with you? Do you just spend your free time casually stalking teenage girls?”

“John got us to come with. He thought Hero was cheating on Claud and he wanted to prove it to Claud.”

“And you believed him?”

“Well, there wasn't any evidence against it, was there?”

Beatrice just groans in response. She can hear the bathroom door open and close again.

“Listen, Pedro, I have to go”, she says. “I'll try and talk to Meg later. Could you just-”

“I'll come by in the afternoon with a big fat cake, that's got 'I'm sorry I'm and ass' written on it.”

“Good idea but I'm not sure how Hero's doing, so maybe just call, okay?”

The thought of Pedro with an I'm-sorry-I-messed-up-cake makes her smile though.

“Okay”, Pedro replies. “The offer stands, though.”

  
  


She takes a long-due shower after that, standing under the hot water until her skin begins to shrivel. When she gets out, drying herself off, wrapping a towel around her naked body, she throws a look into the mirror. Dark blond hair to her shoulders, blue eyes that stare back at her. Bea in the mirror doesn't look angry any more. She looks sad, distraught.

Taking a deep breath, she turns around, walking back into her room to put on her comfort clothes – grey tracksuit bottoms and a superhero t-shirt that's too big for her. She doesn't need to look presentable today, she just needs to be there for Hero.

So she takes a detour to the kitchen cabinet where they keep all the sweets, before knocking on her cousin's door.

(Let's face it, desperate times call for chocolate and ice cream. Chocolate ice cream. She keeps that in mind for later.)

Hero's curled up on her bed in her pyjamas and without hesitating, Beatrice closes the door and puts the bowl of chocolate on the bedside cabinet before lying down next to her.

“It'll get better”, she mutters, wrapping her arms around that tiny, breakable girl.

(There's still tears left in both of them.)

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I just keep writing and writing because of radio silence and we all want to know so desperately what’s going on! (Also, this part includes lovely friendshipping of Pedro/Bea and Hero/Bea, because our lovely leading lady deserves to have lovely platonic relationships as well.)

They sleep through the afternoon, a fact that worries Beatrice a bit when she wakes up blearily only to see it's already dusk. In all truth, the sleep she got in Benedick's car probably wasn't that great. Maybe it's the crying that's exhausting. Maybe it's just one of these days.

She carefully slips out from under Hero's arm and gets out of the bed. In her sleep, Hero looks peaceful, almost as if nothing happened. At least in her dreams everything seems to be alright. Her breathing's even, a few strands of blond hair cover her face. Beatrice pushes them away before turning around and quietly slipping out of the room. No reason to wake Hero up and pull her back into reality.

  
  


She's halfway across the hallway when she hears voices from downstairs. Well, just one voice. Leo's voice. Probably on the phone. Come to think of it, that might've been the thing that woke her up. The ringing phone.

“No, they're both sleeping.”

Bea stops in her tracks.

“I'm- I'm not sure- I'll ask her when she wakes up, okay?”

She turns around, creeping down the stairs, trying not to make a sound.

“Oh, you did? What?” Leo laughs. “Yeah, I'll tell her you called-”

He turns around, spotting Bea on the stairs. So much for trying to go by unnoticed.

“Hold on a sec.” He covers the receiver.

“Pedro's on the phone?”, he says. “Something about a cake...”

Bea just shakes her head, smiling, and motions at Leo to give her the phone.

“You seriously made an apology-cake?”, she asks, sitting down on the lower stairs. Leo gives her a confused look.

“Hello to you too, Bea”, comes Pedro's voice from the phone. “Thought you were sleeping?”

“Well, someone decided to call the landline.”

“You didn't answer your phone!”

“Yeah, because I put in on silent when I want my quiet time.” Beatrice rolls her eyes even though Leo's already left the room and there's no one there to see it.

“So, I just wanted to check how things are”, Pedro calls her attention back to their conversation. “How's Hero doing?”

“Well, she cried a lot, and I cried a lot, and then we were so exhausted that we had to take a 6-hour nap. And she's still sleeping.”

“Okay.”

“In other news, I would still try and strangle Claudio if he ever came into 10m-distance of her.”

“Understandably.”

“What?”

“I said understandably.”

“Oh, I heard you alright, I was just making sure- Whose side are you on again?”

“I'm on the side of whoever's right and tells the truth and right now that looks like Hero and you.”

Bea doesn't have a witty comeback to that. In fact, she's sitting on the stairs, phone in her hand, agape. And then, maybe it's the fact that she's just woken up, or that her period's due, but she starts crying.

(It's just so relieving to hear these words from Pedro, that he believes them more than he believes his mates. He's the closest she has to a best friend after Hero and his siding with Claudio at first felt like treachery to her.)

“Are you crying, Bea?”

“No”, she lies, rubbing her eyes. “Hah- What- Allergies and... stuff.”

“Aww”, Pedro coos. “Okay, here's the deal, I'll be over in ten and I'm bringing cake.”

“Can I even argue with that?”

“Nope.”

“Fine.”

  
  


He brings over a cake he clearly bought somewhere but it's a layered chocolate fudge cake and he gets out a bottle of whipped cream, writing “SORRY” in big white creamy letters on top. She laughs at him but takes a picture of it before they cut the cake.

“So I'm forgiven then?”, he asks as they sit at the kitchen counter, eating cake and drinking tea. She looks at him for a while, quietly chewing her cake.

“I will probably hold your actions against you in the near future, someway or the other”, she decides. “But for now, yeah, I think you are. Although I'm not the one deciding here, Hero's the one you have to apologise to.”

“She's still sleeping though.”

“Yep.”

They fall silent for a while, just the noise of forks clinking against plates and mugs being picked up and set down.

“So what's going on with you and Ben there?”, Pedro finally asks after a while and Bea can tell he's been curious about this probably since Ben sent him that text last night.

She groans because she doesn't really want to talk about it but then does, because otherwise they would probably just talk about the situation at hand which is Claudio being a jerk and dumping Hero.

“Nothing”, she says. “He was designated driver and he took Hero to the hospital for us.”

“But you talked.”

“We- I- Huh- Yes, what's wrong about that?”

“Nothing, just wondering how you two were getting along without butting heads.”

Bea snorts at that.

“I would be perfectly fine at having a civil conversation with him”, she states. “If he wouldn't be a dick about so many things.”

“So everything's the same as usual.”

“Yeah, why wouldn't it be?”

  
  


It's almost a casual everyday scene, just the two of them, sitting in the kitchen, eating cake.

(They could pretend it's leftover cake from Hero's birthday and nothing has gone wrong the night before. Anything to distract from the reality.)

They're in deep discussion about their history project when a sleepy Hero comes down the stairs. Her hair's a mess, she's wearing a bathrobe over her pyjamas and her slippers shuffle over the hardwood flooring.

“Hey you”, Beatrice greets her, still unsure about how to act around her cousin. “Pedro's here. He brought cake.”

Hero looks at Pedro with a blank face.

“It's an apology-cake”, he adds. “For- I mean- I was a jerk yesterday. I didn't know the whole truth about the situation and- Ben and Bea cleared things up for me. And I'm truly terribly sorry for- for ever believing that you would do such things.”

Hero sucks in her cheeks and then says: “Is it chocolate?”

“Yes. Layered. With fudge and whipped cream. I wrote SORRY on it but then Bea wanted to eat the cake-”

“Okay.”

“Huh?”

“Thank you for being honest, Pedro.”

And in an unexpected turn of events, Hero hugs a completely baffled Pedro.

(Because Hero's that nice and they would have expected at least some forgiveness but not this. Not full-on hugging that indicates feelings of a friendship that wasn't just tainted by events of treachery.)

“Okay then. Cake?”

  
  


When Pedro leaves, the cake isn't even half-finished, it's so rich they can only eat about one and a half piece each. Beatrice puts it in the fridge with the uncut birthday cake. She turns around to find Hero still perched on that bar stool, staring out the big glass windows. In a swift movement she wraps her arms around her from behind.

“How're you doing?”, she murmurs, holding Hero close. Her cousin just shrugs.

“The cake was good”, she acknowledges and then after a pause she adds: “Bea, I know you want to help me out. But what you want is revenge and I just want him, everyone, to see reason.”

Beatrice lets her go, sitting down next to her.

“But wouldn't you want to see him hurt as well?”, she asks. “You know it's not just me, everybody's lining up right now- Leo, Benedick, Pedro- they all want to punch Claudio just as bad as I do. Well, maybe not as bad, but- I don't know.”

“Of course I want to see him hurt right now”, Hero admits. “But it's not right to seek revenge. He'll be hurt enough when he sees and admits he's been wrong the whole time.”

“And that's enough for you?”

“That's everything I want right now. So badly it hurts. But I can't do anything about it right now.”

She looks like she's about to tear up again so Bea pulls her close, cradling her against her chest.

“We'll get him to see reason”, she promises. She was planning on that anyway – and then punch him in the face.

  
  


They huddle up with blankets and tea on the sofa, watching “Ferris Bueller's Day Off” and laughing the sadness that clings to them away. When the credits roll, Hero turns around to look at her older cousin who has a melancholy smile on her face and can't tear her eyes away from the screen.

“Hey Bea”, she says. “What happened with Ben last night?”

“What do you mean what happened with Ben?”, her cousin replies absent-mindedly.

Hero pulls her blanket closer around herself.

“I mean, why was he there this morning?”, she asks. “And don't lie to me because I saw that adorable smile you gave him.”

“What? I- Huh- No?!”

“Why was he there?”

“Okay, fine. He was designated driver last night and he took you to A&E... And then he stayed for the night.”

“Well, that was very sweet of him.”

Hero's smile indicates that she knows that there's more but she won't push it. And Beatrice won't spill that fast either, so they just stare at each other, waiting for the first person to crack up.

“Okay, fine!” It's Bea. “I had an argument with Leo about the situation and then I stormed out but outside was cold, so Benedick made me sit in his car.”

“And?”

“And we listened to music, okay?”

“And?”

Bea hesitates at this. But this is Hero and if she can't confide in Hero, who else is there?

“We held hands.”

“Awww!”

“It was weird.” That's a lie. “I was crying.” That's halfway true. “Nothing else happened.”

Hero apparently doesn't care about all these supplements. She just grins, her first real big smile since everything happened.

(It's almost happiness and Bea didn't even think she could make her cousin this happy when all they've been doing today has been crying and sleeping and eating chocolate.)

“My cousin has a crush!”, she mimics Beatrice's voice from months ago. Bea just glares at her but Hero's to busy laughing to care.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two updates in a day, woo-hoo! I just kept on writing this afternoon and this is what came out. Including Beatrice finally watching Benedick’s videos and Hero finding out why Claudio thinks she cheated on him.
> 
> (I’m sorry that I am repeating the whole story of what happened during the sleepover over and over again but this is Bea, explaining it to everybody and filling in the gaps… We’ll be done with that by the next part, I hope.)

That night she watches all of his videos. She forces herself to. She can't even get through the first videos without getting annoyed by him. He's being a jerk about Hero constantly and then he starts insulting her as well, come “REBUTTAL”, which somehow hits a nerve with her and almost makes her call off this mission. But she keeps watching through his first Q&A, reminiscing with him over summers past and laughing at his attempt to do accents.

(To be honest, she finds the Scottish one kind of cute but she wouldn't dare admit that.)

The next few videos make the scales fall from her eyes. So he was there, at that party, after all. She even talked to him and didn't realise it! She also didn't realise how deep her words did affect him.

(Drunk and emotional Ben is also cute and she can't help but smile at that just a bit. That effect doesn't last long as the next two videos have him talking crap about Hero again.)

  
  


“WHAT?”

As soon as she's realised she's been shouting, she clasps her hand over her open mouth.

“Oh – my – God”, she mutters, staring at her laptop screen.

The video title reads “TRUTH” but that's what it's exactly not. Lies, lies, lies all around. Hero had told Claudio? Pedro and Balthazar and LEO had been talking about it? For a moment she wants to accuse Benedick of making this up. But he seems too shocked himself, so it can't be him.

She almost blushes at him admitting that she's funny. And then the mystery about the missing phone gets resolved. Bea's just shaking her head, almost smiling. Hero, that little, innocent, sly thing. Going behind her back and trying to get her and Benedick together? Is that her big plan? She couldn't have come up with that herself...

Bea's so busy speculating about this that she doesn't pay attention to the videos until Video-Benedick calls out her name. And then he says it, over and over again. It reminds her of this morning, when his face lit up and he said her name in that totally different tone. Like she's special. She rubs her temples. This is driving her crazy, she doesn't know where this came from or what's going on.

  
  


Meanwhile Video-Benedick is sitting in her bathtub, playing with the old toys that are somehow lying around in their bathroom. And then-

“I do.”

It sends her heart racing, these two words. She sits there, mouth agape, watching Benedick rave about her. She almost wants to shout at Video-Beatrice for interrupting his monologue. She wants Benedick to pour his heart out. She wants this, awkward, lovestruck Benedick. She wants it to go on and on because hearing him say those words makes her heart race like crazy and she can't stop smiling-

(WHAT? What is she doing? Why is this happening? SHE'S NOT IN LOVE WITH BENEDICK!)

The next video comes as a relief as it's mostly Claudio, Balthazar and Pedro teasing Benedick and then singing random songs about love.

(Balthazar's comment bugs her though. Why did Pedro bring this upon himself? Is he involved in Hero's masterplan or something?)

  
  


She's looking at Video-Benedick with different eyes now. He's trying to avoid answering questions about her in his next Q&A. One answer hits her.

“Are you just gonna ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist until it goes away?”

Sounds a lot like her. Also sounds a lot like what he's been doing the past week. They've been distant, less banter, more avoiding. Last night was an exception and his words “That's the plan” almost make her want to rehash that moment in the car.

(Because he said he cared about her and she slipped her hand into his and everything had been easy in that moment.)

Instead she turns her attention back on the videos. There's only two of them left and they leave her completely baffled and with a million questions. Why would John care about Hero and Claudio? Why would Pedro agree to a stakeout with John and Claudio? And most of all, why would Benedick be defending Hero?

  
  


She sits there in shock for a few minutes when the last video ends. Her brain is a total mess right now and she doesn't even know where to start thinking. So she does the only thing she clearly remembers planning on doing eventually: Call Meg.

Poor Meg who broke up with her boyfriend yesterday for the second time in like a month and probably for all the wrong reasons, who then continued to break up the party itself and didn't say one bad thing to Hero.

It takes her some time to answer the phone but when she does it's clear she's more worried than pissed.

“Hey”, she says. “How's Hero?”

“Hero's okay”, Bea assures her. “She spent last night in hospital but she's back home now. Did you run? You sound out of breath...”

“Yeah, I was just under the shower.”

“You could've just let it go to voicemail and called back or something.”

“No, it's okay, this is important. Hero's important.”

“Thank you, Meg”, Beatrice stammers. “I- Wow- This really means a lot-”

“Why?”

“I just thought- I figured you'd be mad at Hero or something.”

“Bea, I've known your sweet little cousin for a long time. And she would never be a cheater. Especially not with a guy like Robbie. He's not her type.”

Beatrice takes a relieved breath.

“I don't know what's gotten into Claud there”, Meg continues. “But that was a whole lot of unnecessary bullshit last night.”

“Yes, we- I've been trying to clear that up”, Bea tries to explain. “I've found out that- the guys spied on us or something, the night we had that sleepover.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I don't know where they got that idea- well, actually, I do- John convinced them that Hero was cheating.”

“John, the Bastard.”

“Hah- Yes- Well, what happened is that they spied on us and they saw Robbie getting into the house through the back door, saw the lights go on in Hero's room, saw silhouettes and jumped to conclusions.”

“Oh.”

“What happened that night, Meg?”

“I'm sorry!”

“Meg, I promise, I'm not going to be mad about this- well, Hero might be a bit, when she finds out you had sex in her bed- I just really need you to confirm that what we are assuming here is true, that they saw Robbie and you, not Robbie and Hero.”

There's a long pause on the line.

Then: “Yes.”

“Okay.”

“What are you gonna do then?”

“I don't know, I just- I wanted to know the truth, I guess.”

“No, but- Bea, you need to have a plan. Like what are we gonna do about Claudio?”

“I don't know, Meg.”

  
  


She lies awake staring at the ceiling after that phone call for a long time, slowly organising her brain. There are two major problems in her life right now. The fact that her cousin has just been wrongly accused of cheating and been dumped by her boyfriend. And the fact that she might have feelings for a certain lanky British guy.

She can get all the help she wants for the first problem, but isn't so sure about whether she's ready to share about the second one. It seems irrelevant, compared to what Hero's going through right now. Who cares about crushes and maybe-feelings and hand holding, when their cousin's just been released from hospital?

Bea sighs and rolls around on her bed. A quiet knock on the door makes her raise her head from where it is buried in her pillow.

“Yeah?”

Hero pops her head into the room. “Oh, sorry, I thought you were still-”

“Oh, I'm awake. Come on in, what's up?”

Bea sits up as her cousin closes the door behind her.

“Just can't sleep”, Hero states as she sits down on the bed.

Beatrice just hums and nods. She can see Hero's eyes take in the mess of the room.

“I'll clean up tomorrow, I promise”, Bea says. Anything to make her cousin happy right now.

Hero smiles and leans into her, continuing: “I just can't stay in my room right now. Too many memories.”

“Oh”, Bea says. “Okay. No problem.” Her double sized mattress is big enough for both of them.

“You want to get your bedding though? It'll be like a mini-sleepover.”

She can see the relief in Hero's smile.

(It'll take time until that smile will fully be back on that face. Bea remembers something Benedick said in his early vlogs, that her smile is terrifying. To her, what's more terrifying is the absence of said smile.)

  
  


They lie in bed, facing each other, whispering because that's what you do when you're sharing a bed and having a mini-sleepover.

“I just talked to Meg on the phone”, Beatrice says, quietly. “It was her, the boys saw her and Robbie.”

“What?”

“I didn't tell you this yet?”

“Tell you what?”

“About what Pedro told me that Claudio think he saw?”

“No.”

“Sorry, I've been going over the story so many times with different people in the past twenty-four hours...”

“Tell me, then.”

“You're sure you want to hear this?”

“Well, if it's the truth, obviously? I just can't hear any more lies that are being told about me.”

Beatrice smiles at her cousin. Sounds like she's gaining back some of her spirit.

“So, Pedro told me that one day John came up to him, telling him that you were cheating on Claudio”, she begins to tell the story. “Pedro obviously wouldn't believe him, so John made him and Claudio come with him. They basically spied on our house that night we had the sleepover- Don't ask, I don't even know either. So that night they saw Robbie enter the house through the back door. We must've overheard that, or at least that's what I thought. Pedro said that the lights in your room came on and they- they saw silhouettes of what they thought were Robbie and you.”

“But I never was in my room that night. We slept in the living room!”

“That's what I thought when I heard the story first. So I called Meg.”

“Oh no.”

“It was her, with Robbie.”

“They were in my room?”

“They had sex in your room, Hero.”

“Ewwwww!” Hero scrunches up her face, shaking in disgust. “I slept in those sheets!”

  
  


“I'm sorry I teased you about Ben.”

Beatrice is at the edge of falling asleep when Hero whispers her apology.

“It's not- I tease you all the time”, she replies. “It's only right that I deserve the same.”

“Was I right about it?”

“What?”

“You having a crush on Ben.”

Beatrice thinks of all the new mysteries that Benedick's videos have brought up. Had Hero really told (and lied to) Claudio about her liking Benedick? Or had the boys come up with the lie? And what about what she overheard Hero, Ursula and Meg talk that afternoon in the living room? Was that a lie as well? Or was that just the truth born out of a lie as Benedick had come to the realisation that he liked her back when he heard that she liked him?

This whole thing is just too confusing to her, so she answers what is maybe the closest to the truth: “I'm not so sure right now.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took me a while but I finally got it done and I had quite a lot of fun while writing, actually. I'm sorry for the lack of Ben/Bea scenes but I am slowly working towards them, okay? This girl is still so confused about her feelings, I can't just dump a lovestruck Benedick on her...

Monday comes with rainy clouds and a doctor's appointment for Hero.

(The official reason why she can't attend school. Leo and Beatrice both hope that by giving her a few more days off, she'll get through it better.)

Bea however has to go to school, and her only silver lining is that Pedro's on her side and he'll be there to cheer her up and keep her from beating up Claudio. Except Claudio has somehow magically gotten a cold and isn't at school either.

“He's a fool”, she tells Pedro during lunch break. “Maybe he's gotten wind of the truth.”

Except she's pretty sure only six people know the real story. Hero, Leo, Pedro, Meg, Benedick and herself. She hasn't confided in Ursula yet but her friend is on Hero's side no matter what the story. She's that nice.

“Or maybe he's just caught the flu”, Pedro retorts. “Give him the benefit of the doubt.”

They sit down at their usual spot, the two lunch tables next to each other – one for the girls and one for the boys. She's alone at hers – for now. Balthazar has already been waiting for them and Bea throws him an unsure look which doesn't go by Pedro.

“Wait until everybody gets here”, he says. “I think this whole situation calls for a group meeting.”

  
  


Ursula and Meg show up shortly after them and then it's just Benedick they're waiting for. After five minutes, Bea sighs.

“Go ahead, Pedro”, she says. “He knows the story anyway. It's mostly just to fill in Ursula and Balthazar.”

“Fill us in on what?”, Balthazar asks.

Bea just nods at Pedro. She's tired of telling the same story over and over again, she's tired of hearing it as well, so she gets up and lets Pedro do the talking. Instead she starts walking up and down next to the tables, nervously checking her phone for news from Hero or Leo.

“Hey.” Benedick. Directly in front of her. “Sorry I'm late.”

She's never once heard an honest apology from him but he looks so genuine it's almost scary.

“Didn't miss much”, she replies. “Pedro's filling everybody in. You know the story. And I was right about Meg.”

Benedick just nods, not really making a move towards the tables.

“How- How's Hero?”, he asks.

It creeps her out when he's this attentive and nice. Snarky and argumentative Benedick she can deal with. But NICE Benedick?

“She's doing better”, she says. “Leo's taking her to see the doctors today.”

“That's... good.” He looks like he wants to say something else but Pedro interrupts them, calling them over.

  
  


In the end the decision falls on Pedro to talk to Claudio. Make him see reason, that's Hero's only wish and what friends are they if they don't listen to her? Bea agrees with bad grace and for a moment she thinks she caught Benedick smiling.

“What?”, she snarls. Arguing, that's what she's comfortable with, and what would she give for an argument with Benedick right now.

“Nothing”, he says, holding up his hands in defence. “It's just so typical you, stubborn and all.”

“Pah! Just because I think he deserves a good punch in the face.”

“Don't we all?”

The others agree only half-heartedly and Ursula mutters something about not condoning violence. Beatrice just huffs at that. They're a sad bunch today but given the circumstances, who would've expected different?

  
  


They have just finished physics and Beatrice is dumping her books into her locker, when Ursula finds her.

“I think you should see this”, she says, holding up her phone.

Bea frowns at her. “Your weirdos from year nine?”

“I know they've just been goofing around and stuff, but this is- you have to watch this. Here, take the earbuds. Their audio is a bit... low quality.”

She starts the video for Beatrice who just rolls her eyes and puts in the earbuds. What she watches unfold on the small phone screen makes her eyes widen more and more with every second. She practically rips out the earbuds before the video is even finished.

“Robbie”, she snarls, her fingers curling up into fists. “And John?”

Ursula nods. Beatrice turns around, slamming her locker shut.

“They're gonna pay for this.”

  
  


Robbie seems to be in hiding, like Claudio, but Beatrice finds John just down the hall, lurking around in a corner. More precisely, Beatrice's fist finds John.

“YOU BASTARD!”

She's learned in self-defence class how to make a perfect fist. It still hurts when her knuckles connect with John's nose and she thinks she can hear the crunching noise of bones breaking.

The realisation of this stuns her for a moment but then John pushes her back and a few seconds later they are rolling around on the ground, Bea throwing punches left and right until someone grabs her around her waist, pulling her away.

“LET ME GO!”, she screams, kicking around and hissing at John.

There's shouting, a crowd has gathered around them. Pedro's picking up his little brother, throwing her a look like she's gone mental. Because clearly she has. There's blood trickling down John's face and Beatrice's heart is still pumping with adrenaline.

“You're fine now?”, the person still holding her in a grip asks. Benedick. She lets out an angry snort and he loosens his grip.

For a second she's fine, just standing there, breathing heavily. Then her legs buckle and Benedick catches her again before she falls.

“What is going on here?” Her history teacher finds her way through the crowd, staring at John and then at Beatrice. Without missing a beat, she says: “Miss Duke, Mr. Donaldson. Head teacher's office. Now.”

  
  


“You got suspended?” Leo sounds more in disbelief than pissed about her phone call. “For what?”

“I beat up Pedro's brother and I might have broken his nose in the process”, Bea admits, a tiny bit of pride about that fact sounding along in her voice.

She's standing in front of the school, her backpack on, not sure how to go from here. She's never been suspended, it feels weird. Then again, she's never gotten into a fight either. She's an arguer, not a fighter.

(Benedick's voice slips into her head, something he said in one of his videos. “Feisty. The word you are looking for is feisty.”)

“Okay, I have so many questions about this”, Leo says and she can hear him chuckle. “But first of all: WHY?”

“It's kind of a long story.”

“Okay, then explain later. Do you need me to pick you up?”

“No, I'm fine, I'll just walk. It's not that far.”

“Whatever you say.” He's still chuckling. “See you later, Bea.”

“Later, Leo.”

She hangs up, a small smile on her face. This feels good, she decides. Maybe that's what she needed today, punch someone in the face.

  
  


She drops by the supermarket on her way home. The least she can do now is cook dinner for her cousins.

(Her parents would be so much more mad about this but luckily they're in Australia and her head teacher decided NOT to call them on this matter. What would they do about it anyway? Ground her? She already got suspended from school and she's a master at never leaving the house.)

Browsing the mostly vacant aisles she decides on a coconut curry with fresh vegetables. It's more work to make it from scratch but she loves to cook. When she has the time, that is. And now she's got more than enough time on her hand. She loads another tub of ice cream into the shopping trolley before she goes to the checkout. If Hero doesn't need it, she might as well eat it herself. Ice cream's always good.

  
  


During dinner she has to explain the whole story. Even Leo stops laughing when he hears that John paid Robbie to make it look like Hero was cheating on Claudio.

“What kind of a sick idea is that?”, he asks.

Bea just shrugs. She's still unsure about John's motives but not even Pedro understands his own brother, so why should she?

“At least now we know who's the bad guy”, she states. “And he got what he deserved.”

She looks at Hero who has been quietly eating her curry.

“Hero?”

“Huh?”

Her cousin looks up.

“I thought you'd be happier about this”, Beatrice says. “After all, Claudio's not the bad guy. The fault lies with John, that bastard.”

“Sure, but Claudio still believed it”, Hero replies quietly. “He got jealous so easily, he put blame on me so easily... There's still a lot of fault in him as well.”

Bea stares at Hero with her mouth hanging open, then looks at Leo and back at Hero.

“What happened to you?”, she asks. “What happened to sweet, innocent Hero who forgave everyone and only saw the good in people?”

Hero blushes but doesn't answer. When Beatrice looks at Leo, he just shrugs his shoulders.

  
  


Over the past two days she's been constantly in a state of explaining what was going on because apparently nobody fully knew what was going on except for her. When she checks her phone after dinner she has texts from Pedro, Benedick, Meg and Ursula and she already wants to chuck it into a corner because she doesn't need shit from anybody right now.

Luckily she opens the ones from Ursula first, informing her that the video evidence has since made it's round in their circle of friends. Meg's texts are just a very angry rant about her boyfriend (now ex-boyfriend again) and Pedro tells her that John's nose is indeed broken and he's kind of pissed about it but also glad that she did it because he doesn't know what he would have done.

Finally, Benedick's text just reads:

_Hey Beatrice. Are you okay?_

She smiles at that, her finger hovering over the reply button.

_I'm fine. Thanks._

Then she pulls up her contacts, dialling.

“Hey”, she says. “I could really use a walk right now. Wanna come?”

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, with all the videos coming out today I had trouble finishing this. This story has been heavily canonballed but I hope you’ll continue reading anyway.  
> NMTD turned out a lot more dramatic than I anticipated and I realised that I was taking the story way too lightly. (Yes it’s tagged as fluff on AO3, but seriously? That’s not realistic right now.) So I’m sorry for any unexpected turns this story takes. That’s me trying to minimize casualties the fanfiction has taken by the canon storyline.

It's drizzling but they're driving down to the beach anyway. There are less people here after dusk and they wander around in their sneakers and rain jackets, throwing stones into the sea.

“I'm surprised your parents still let you hang out with me”, Beatrice says, grinning.

Pedro smirks at her.

“Yeah, you're a real rebel”, he retorts. “John wouldn't tell them who did it.”

“Hah! To afraid they're gonna laugh at him because he got beat up by a girl?”

“No, I think he's more afraid that our parents find out what's really going on.”

She looks at him a bit worried, he sounds anxious about this.

“But yeah, my dad would probably laugh at him if he found out”, he adds. “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

“Hah”, Bea lets out a short laugh. “Well behaved women rarely make history.”

“Was that a quote as well or just something you made up?”

“Eleanor Roosevelt.”

“Witty.” He bumps into her shoulder playfully and she shoves him back, laughing.

  
  


“So we're fine?”, she asks as they sit down in the sand, staring out at the sea. He nods.

“Yeah.”

“I mean not just about the fact that I beat up your brother.”

He looks at her with a quizzical expression.

“There's been so much going on lately”, she explains. “With taking sides and truths and lies and everything. I just wanted to make sure we're okay. Friendship intact.”

“Of course, why wouldn't it be?”

She sighs, running her fingers through the sand beneath her.

“Pedro, two months ago you were asking me out and now you're pretending everything's fine? How can you be so- so chill about the whole thing?”

“Okay, hold on. First of all, it wasn't anything serious. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing and I don't regret it. I stand by what I said, it's good to clear things up. Yes, I was hurt at the moment, but it was mostly because you were laughing at me. Now that we have that off the table we actually have a shot at just being friends.”

She frowns at him because she still doesn't quite believe him. He sticks out his fingers, pulling the corners of her mouth up again.

“We're fine!”

  
  


That night it's like a switch flips inside her. She can't sleep so she just sits on her bed, reading “Frankenstein”. Then, from one moment to the other, the panic surges up inside of her and she has to put away the book.

It's all her worries shouting at her at once and everything else shuts out. She tries breathing but it's like she's underwater. A small voice in the back of her head tells her that she's having a panic attack, she hasn't had one in a long time, and she should try breathing in and out. But it gets drowned out by all the other voices insider her head, telling her she's a failure, she'll never find love, she doesn't know where she's going, she sucks at handling things, she messed everything up, she'll never succeed, she's not acting like her true self. It drives tears to her eyes and she whimpers, pulling her legs to her chest.

“No, no, nonononono”, she whispers. “This is not happening, this is not happening. Pull yourself together, Beatrice!”

  
  


She doesn't even perceive the knock on the door or it opening and it comes as a complete surprise when she sees Leo squatting down in front of her bed.

“Hey”, he says, a concerned look on his face. “What's going on?”

She can't explain, she just sobs and shakes her head.

“Do you want something to drink?”

Head shaking again.

“Do you want me to get Hero?”

Severe head shaking. Leo puts his hand on her foot.

“Get up”, he says then, after a short moment of consideration. “Come on.”

She stands with shaky legs and lets him guide her down the stairs into the kitchen. He puts a glass of water down in front of her.

“I'll be right back.”

She just nods and cries and cries because her head won't shut up. She sits down at the kitchen counter, head in hands. It feels like she can't breathe and she doesn't even dare to take the glass in fear of dropping it.

She hears Leo's steps and him opening cabinets but her brain can't process what's going on. When he comes back he puts something in front of her.

“Here. Go ahead.” She stares at the items on the counter and then up at him.

“What is this?”, she sobs.

“Mandalas”, he says, opening the folder he has brought her, filled with empty mandalas for colouring. “Mumma has them for the kids at the clinic but Hero used to colour them when she was getting anxious. Go ahead, pick one.”

He takes one out for himself and then opens a box of crayons he brought along as well.

  
  


It helps wonders and the more she colours in the strange shapes and circles the more she comes to the realisation of what just happened. Her breathing evens out and she can see clearly now. Leo sits across from her, colouring as well.

“Thank you”, she whispers.

He looks up, then smiles.

“No problem”, he replies. “We both had a rough couple of days.”

“And in comparison I am totally crappy at handling things”, she says. “How do you do it?”

“Small steps. One after the other. I'd like to punch someone in the face just as bad as you would but I know it doesn't help the situation.”

“Such a grown-up.” She laughs and picks up a sunflower-yellow crayon to fill out the last gaps.

“Well, somebody has to be the grown-up around here”, he defends himself. “You're gonna get there.”

He puts his crayon aside and looks at her mandala.

“How are you feeling?”, he asks.

“Better”, she says. “That worked surprisingly well. How did you know...”

“Panic attacks? Hero. She's had anxiety issues for a long time. Best thing to do is distract her.”

Bea slowly nods, putting down they crayon.

“Try and get some sleep now”, Leo says and gets up from his chair.

She takes a sip from her glass of water, then another and another. She drinks up the whole thing in long steady gulps before setting the glass back on the counter.

“Okay”, she says. “Try is the word.”

On their way up, Leo puts his arm around her and it's the first time Beatrice really feels like he's not only her older cousin but also sort of a brother-figure in her life. Without second thought she wraps her arms around him. He seems surprised for a moment but then he hugs her back.

“Thanks, Leo”, she mutters. “You're the best.”

  
  


She has a strange dream that night. They're swiftly moving through a vacant office building, away from some villians and somehow dancing tango all the while. Her and Benedick, that is. It thrilling, the way he holds her close in her dream. She's wearing the lace dress from Hero's birthday party and he's dressed in a tailored suit. She can't remember much else of the dream but what remains is the realisation that there was making-out and she enjoyed it.

  
  


Hero goes back to school the next day and it's the first time Beatrice is annoyed about her suspension.

“I can look out for myself”, her cousin promises her during breakfast. “I'm sixteen. Besides, Meg will be there and she can be almost as scary as you.”

“I'm not scary!”, Bea protests with a mouth full of cornflakes.

She's still in her pyjamas since there is no significant reason for her to get dressed today. Hero smiles at her over her mug of tea.

“You beat up a boy because he spread rumours about me”, she states. “I wouldn't cross you for my dear life.”

Bea grins at that.

“Seriously though”, Hero adds. “I'll be fine.”

“Okay, but if anything happens, call me.”

“What are you gonna do then? Ignore your suspension and beat up another boy?”

“You're getting snarky, Miss. Off you go.” Beatrice waves her spoon around in the air.

Hero laughs, putting her mug into the dishwasher. It's a light-hearted laugh coming from a girl with a heavy heart. Bea can only suspect she's putting on a brave face which is why she's even more anxious about her cousin going to school alone.

“Hey!”, she calls when Hero's almost out the door. “Do I at least get a goodbye hug?”

She does.

  
  


She spends the morning on the Internet, getting caught up on the news and everything. Apparently the world isn't doing much better at life than she is. Raids in Ferguson, bombs on Gaza and fighting in the Ukraine. And all that's trending on Twitter is Taylor Swift's new music video.

She checks her Facebook for the first time in days as well. At first she doesn't notice anything in particular but then, a comment, a video, more comments, pictures.

“No”, she whispers. “No, no, nononono!”

She jumps up.

“Leo?!”, she shouts in panic.

(Because panicking, that's all she can do these days, apparently. Breathing just doesn't seem to work for her any more.)

“Leo!”

He finally comes running, the same worried look as last night.

“What's going on?”

“There's videos and pictures and comments- they all think Hero did it!”

“Did what? What are you talking about?”

Bea points at her laptop, trying to calm her breathing.

“They're slut-shaming Hero”, she says and then lets out a sob, clasping her hand over her mouth.

(Because this where the shit hits the fan, right there, on the Internet, for everyone to see. It's almost like yesterday was just the calm before the storm.)

“Fuck”, Leo swears. “They're calling you a man-eater as well. Here's a video-”

“YOU BASTARD!”, comes the sound from the speakers. Someone must've filmed her beating up John. She sinks down on her bed, hands shaking.

“We need to get her out of there”, she whispers.

Leo's phone rings but she doesn't even listen when he picks up, her mind still on the catastrophe before her. She tries to think of all the people with cameras at Hero's party, who she saw but didn't register. She faintly remembers Benedick shouting at them to turn them off. How could they? Why were people so easily manipulated, why were lies easier to believe than the truth?

“Bea?” Leo shakes her shoulder. “We need to get to the hospital. Now. Hero's had another attack.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wheee, okay, I’ve finally finished this part! I’m slowly sorting out Bea’s brain and trying to go into the fluff direction. So there… (This one’s is also the longest part I’ve written… Took me a while.)

“Sorry, Miss, only immediate family.”

“But I got to see her when she was here on Sunday!”

“I believe your cousin was in the emergency department last time. This is the ICU, there are different restrictions on visitors. Only immediate family.”

“But we live together, we're practically sisters!”

“Not legally, I'm afraid.”

Leo turns towards her.

“We'll figure this out, Bea”, he says, holding her by her shoulders. “We'll make it work. For now you just gotta wait.”

She rips his hands off of her shoulders, turns around without another word and storms off into the waiting hall.

  
  


She's devastated, close to crying. She wants to see Hero, she wants to know her cousin is okay. All she can picture now is her fragile body in a hotel bed, a cannula in her nose and needles sticking in her arms. It's horrifying.

“Hey...”

She looks up. Somehow Benedick continues to sneak up on her these days, without her realising it. And right now his voice is like heaven in her ears, warm and concerned, reminding her of holding his hand and listening to Mumford & Sons. Without any explanation she throws her arms around him, pressing her face into his chest. His arms wrap around her shaking shoulders in return, holding her close.

For a moment she enjoys the comfort of his hug. She could stay here forever, protected from all the sorrows in her world. But then she withdraws from his embrace, taking a step back and wiping her eyes.

Now she sees Pedro behind Benedick as well, raising an eyebrow at her. Then there's Meg who's got a curious look on her face and Ursula who can't hide that smile of hers. Balthazar's the only one keeping a straight face. For a second she blushes but then Pedro saves her from her misery by hugging her as well, so she goes along, hugging every one of them.

  
  


“She's in intensive care”, she explains when they've all sat down in the waiting hall. “And I can't see her because I'm not immediate family.”

“What?”, Pedro replies. “I'm calling bullshit! You're like a sister to her!”

“Not legally”, Beatrice repeats what the nurse told her. “Does anyone of you know what happened to her? They couldn't tell me anything, just that her lung condition has flared up again.”

Her friends exchange looks, then Ursula says: “She had a panic attack and we assume that triggered her asthma again.”

“Was Claudio at school?”, Bea asks. “I should've never let her go- too many triggers-”

She puts her head in her hands.

“Actually, I think it might've been people in general”, Meg adds. “Everybody's talking and Hero got a lot of weird looks today.”

“I think I heard people call her names”, Balthazar says.

Beatrice drags her hands down her face and then gets her phone out of the pocket of her sweatshirt.

“It's all over Facebook”, she says. “They're slut-shaming Hero, somebody uploaded videos from the party, depicting everything wrong-”

Pedro takes the phone from her, pulling up her Facebook app.

“Shit”, he curses.

  
  


This time even Beatrice doesn't know who to punch in the face. She can't just punch the Internet and she curses the day she decided to make a vlog channel. Why did she put herself out there, along with her cousin? Now it's coming back to get her, apparently. And she's at a loss, can't even defend herself right now.

Pedro has confiscated her phone because she just keeps scrolling through Facebook and YouTube comments. So now they just sit there and wait. Ursula, Balthazar and Meg have left to go back to class but Pedro has taken it as his duty of best friend to stay and keep her from doing anything stupid. And Benedick is just... being Benedick.

He sits across from her, staring at the floor, just like Saturday night. She wants to talk to him so badly, but she's at a loss for words and then there's Pedro sitting next to her and she doesn't know what he's thinking and what that raised eyebrow meant.

(Because if he's being jealous then he's being a hypocrite. Just yesterday he told her they were fine. And if he thinks she's being a hypocrite because she's nice to Benedick now then- He just doesn't understand what's going on right now. Because this is not about Ben, this is about Hero and her whole world falling apart and not about some stupid crush she had on a boy when she was fourteen who she still might like now.)

  
  


It seems to take forever until Leo comes out. He looks worried and Beatrice is the first on her feet when she sees him.

“She's stable”, are the first words out of his mouth and then he hugs her close.

“Her lungs have collapsed”, he explains after letting her go again. “They gave her a chest tube. She's still unconscious but the doctors said she's stable, so-”

“Have you called your mums?”, Bea interrupts him. Because this is not just an emergency and she's pretty sure if her aunties hear about it they're going to want to come home immediately. Leo shakes his head.

“It's the middle of the night there”, he says. “And Hero's not in any immediate danger.”

Beatrice bites her lip.

“Hey.” Leo puts a hand on her shoulder. “She's gonna be fine, okay? I'm sorry you can't see her right now, but I'll try and make something work.”

She nods, crossing her arms.

“I want you to go home now”, he continues. “There's no point in you sitting around here. If Hero wakes up I'll let her know you were here. All of you.”

  
  


Benedick drives.

“Just drop me off at school”, Pedro says from the back. Beatrice had claimed shotgun before he could even say anything.

“Sure”, Benedick mutters.

She throws him a glance. She's never seen him like that, quiet and serious. He's always the one making jokes, bantering along.

“So was Claudio at school today?”, she asks because they never gave her an answer to her question.

“Yeah”, Pedro says, leaning in between the front seats. “But he kept his distance. I tried to talk to him before class but he just snapped at me, calling me a traitor.”

“What, because you found out the truth?” Bea shakes her head, turning her head back front. “Ignorant jerkface.”

“You really need to upgrade your insult-vocabulary”, Benedick remarks.

She looks at him, a slightly amused look on her face.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes. So far your words to describe Claudio have been variations of jerk, you've called him ignorant, misogynistic and jealous.”

“I think she also used asshole once”, Pedro adds.

Beatrice chuckles.

“I'm serious, try to be a little creative!”, Benedick says. “Like... mewling... clay-brained... nut-comb.”

“What's a nut-comb?”, Bea laughs.

Benedick shrugs, grinning. “How do I know? I just made it up.”

  
  


“Okay, I'll see you around then?”, Pedro asks when he gets out of the car at their school. “Let me know how Hero's doing.”

“'Okay.”

Beatrice waves at him, then turns to Benedick.

“Don't you have classes?”, she asks.

“I do, actually”, he says, merging back into traffic. “But I'm got to get you home first.”

“You don't have to do that”, she frowns. “I can just walk home.”

Benedick throws her a glance.

“And I really don't have the nerves for classes today”, he adds. “So there, you're my distraction.”

“Distraction, huh?”, she asks, grinning and wiggling her eyebrows at him. She could swear she sees him blushing at that.

Awkward silence falls between them.

“Turn left”, she suddenly says.

Benedick throws her a confused look. “But you live-”

“We're going to the beach.”

“Oh. All right...”

He turns left.

“Do I get an explanation?”, he asks. “Or is this just one of those don't-ask-any-questions-and-drive-moments?”

“I need to sort out my thoughts and I can't- I need to get out.”

“Understandably”, Benedick mutters.

  
  


“You didn't need to come with me-”

“No, I mean- If you don't mind... I quite fancy a walk.”

“Fine.”

Bea puts on her sweatshirt hood and buries her hands in the front pocket before leading the way. Benedick's quick to keep up, with his long legs. He's wearing shorts and a t-shirt and it's bugging her because a) it's 13°C and b) he looked so good in skinny jeans. She could strike up a discussion about that but then again, anything along those lines seems irrelevant compared to the mess she's in right now.

(Because, let's sum this up again: Her cousin's in hospital with a lung condition because she had a panick attack, caused by people accusing her of a thing she didn't do, over the internet and at school. She herself has been suspended from school because she beat up a boy who spread rumours about her cousin, is being accused of being a man-eater over the internet and still hasn't worked out her feelings for a certain person whose videos she probably shouldn't even have watched. BUT THEY'RE ON THE INTERNET FOR THE WHOLE WORLD TO SEE!)

So she goes ahead and says the four dreaded words: “I watched your videos.”

  
  


It takes him a moment to regain the ability to speak.

“I can understand that you're angry-”, he finally says. “But in my defence-”

“You didn't think I would watch them.”

“Yes, that also but-”

“Why didn't you tell me about Claudio and Hero before?”

He looks surprised. Maybe that wasn't the reaction he had expected.

“No offence but we're not exactly friends, Beatrice”, he finally says. “You probably would have thought I was trying to accuse Hero of cheating. You wouldn't have listened.”

“What?! I- Huh- I don't- No!”

She's at a loss for words. How can he think that? She tries to think back to the week before the fateful party. Would she have listened to him then? They weren't exactly on speaking terms and she was surprised to find him siding with Hero at the party.

So maybe he was right. But they can never know for sure now as the moment has passed and gone and now they're sitting in the aftermath.

“I guess we both have our blame to take for this”, she mutters.

Benedick shakes his head.

“This is not your fault, Bea.”

  
  


They must've walked at least a kilometre and Beatrice is all talked-out, about panic attacks and the Internet and “What are we gonna do now?” and how unfair it is that she and Hero get the blame without any reason.

(“Well, you DID beat up John”, Ben points out but she won't hear it. John deserved it and that's what should count.)

Ben roams the seam, picking up shells and stones while listening to her. That's all he does, listen and occasionally chime in when he thinks it necessary. She's never seen him this attentive before. When she suddenly stops, he looks up at her.

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing”, she murmurs. “I just- I talk a lot, don't I?”

“Eh...”, he says, giving her a wry smile.

She glares at him, then mimics one of his videos: “Ata-ta-ta-ta-ta-tta-tta-ta-ta-tta-ta-tta-tta-ta-ta-ta!”

He laughs at that.

“I am never putting up a video of drunk me again”, he says. “That was- that was mean.”

“If I could ever distance myself from the fact that you were complaining about me in that video, it would actually be quite funny”, she remarks.

He raises his eyebrows at her, then grins.

“Really?”

She shrugs her shoulders.

“You're saying I'm funny?”, Ben prompts her.

She grins but doesn't reply.

“Oh come on, Bea!”, he whines, slightly pushing her shoulder.

She stumbles, laughs and then pushes him back. He catches her arm and before she can register what's happening he starts tickling her and- he's reached dangerous territory there.

“Stop, stop!”, she screams, running in zig-zag across the beach, him chasing after her. He tackles her and they end up rolling around in the sand, laughing and gasping for air.

(This is the comic relief she's been craving for all these days, the distraction from the harsh reality, a moment of bliss. And for that moment she can admit to herself that there are butterflies in her stomach and she doesn't want it to stop.)

She rolls over, looking Ben who lies on his back, still laughing.

“Okay”, she says, grinning.

He turns to look at her, chuckling.

“You're funny”, she admits. “Sometimes.”

Because that's easier than to admit she likes him.

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooof, this took me some time, but I wanted it to be good. I still feel like the characters aren’t acting like they should but I hope it’s not too un-canon. Also, I am definitely deviating from canon in regards to the storyline here. I only watched MAAN about twice.  
> And I’m sorry in advance for the cliffhanger. I promise I’ll start writing on the next chapter in the morning!

She feels like she's fourteen again. Despite everything that's been happening these past few days, she can't get Benedick out of her head. He takes her home when it starts to rain again and she's got a smile on her face when she closes the door behind her. For a moment she's in her own little world where everything's fine and she just makes herself a hot cocoa and curls up on the sofa, watching the raindrops roll down the windows.

(She still can't quite wrap her head around what's going on with Ben and her. It's a lot like in the beginning, when they first met. They were friends back then, so what is this now? Friendship is complicated now, there's feelings and misunderstandings and so much complexity. It's not black and white any more.)

  
  


Leo calls her from the hospital in the evening, telling her that he'll stay the night.

“I called our mums”, he says. “They're trying to get back here as soon as possible.”

“Okay. Anything I can do?”

“I'll talk to the doctors again about you visiting, but I can't make any promises.”

“It's fine. At least you're there. How's Hero?”

“Well, they informed me that she has a- what's it called? Ah, a pneumothorax. Basically that's what they call a collapsed lung. There's more air than there should be between her lungs and her chest walls, so they're trying to drain it now. Chest tube and all.”

Bea winces at the mention. She's not sure she could even handle seeing Hero like that. Pinched with needles and everything.

“Did they find out how it happened?”, she asks instead. “Ursula mentioned she had a panic attack at school...”

“Well, the doctors say it might be her asthma-”

“Well, those two go hand in hand, don't they?”

“Sometimes. We can't be sure until Hero wakes up though. She's been slipping in and out but I'll let you know when she's awake.”

“Just tell her I said hi, okay?”

“Sure. And you call me if anything's wrong, yeah?”

“Of course.”

  
  


The doorbell distracts her from her quiet debate on what's for dinner. She's not expecting anyone but maybe it's Meg. The Queen of Scream drops by sometimes, unannounced, because she lives just down the street.

Instead, her visitor is a lanky British guy with messed-up hair.

“Ben?”

He's standing on their front step, hands in his pockets, looking slightly nervous. Not a good sign. It makes Bea nervous as well.

“What are you doing here?”, she asks, trying to prevent her voice from shaking.

He's rocking back and forth on his shoes.

“Why didn't you ask me?”, he replies. “About- some of the videos. I know you watched them so clearly you know what's going on and you know how I feel-”

“Can we talk about this inside?”, Bea interrupts him. “And maybe order pizza or something? I'm kinda hungry.”

“Yeah, sure.”

She lets him inside and goes to get the menu of that pizza place they ordered from a few weeks ago.

“Drinks?”, she asks, putting the menu on the counter.

“Sure”, Benedick replies again but she can tell he's a bit absent-minded. He goes through the menu without actually looking at the food. She gets some lemonade from the fridge and glasses from the cabinets.

  
  


“Ben, I watched all of your videos”, she starts, sitting down on one of the bar stools and pouring them lemonade. “Including your last Q&A in which you stated that you were “gonna ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist until it goes away”.”

She makes air quotes with her fingers to underline original line from his video. Ben frowns at her. Maybe for doing air quotes or for pointing out his own statement on the matter.

Bea takes a sip from her lemonade and then continues: “I think somebody's been playing us. Both of us. Because- as much as this might hurt- I never said that I liked you, nor anything along those lines. And, in case you're wondering, the same thing happened to me. I overhead Hero, Meg and Ursula-”

“Wait a minute- You don't like me?” Ben looks confused.

Bea opens her mouth, ready to deny any feeling towards him, but then stops herself.

“That's not what I said”, she corrects him. “I never told anyone that I liked you.”

“So you like me?”

Ben's face lights up and it's the cutest thing since that confession video in her bathtub. Bea groans and buries her head in her hands.

“Hey, it's okay, love”, Ben says cheerfully. “ You don't have to say anything. I know-”

“You don't know anything!”, Bea interrupts him, looking up from the counter.

He's taken aback and she's almost sorry for it.

“Look, this is the problem I am having with this situation right here”, she says, putting her hands flat on the counter. “You BELIEVE what you overheard Claudio and Pedro and Leo and Balthazar say. They say that Hero told Claudio that I liked you. If Hero DID tell Claudio that, then SHE's lying. If she didn't, then THE BOYS are lying. This whole thing, the fact that you found out that I apparently liked you, is based on a LIE. Two months ago we were butting heads and arguing, ALL THE FREAKIN' TIME! And suddenly you find out that I like you and you decide you like me back? This is nothing but a mountain of lies.”

She downs her lemonade and then shoots him a glance. He looks even more taken aback.

“Pick a pizza, Ben”, she says. “This is gonna need some serious discussion.”

  
  


“So your theory is that either Hero or Pedro or both have hatched an elaborate plan to make us both believe the other person likes them?”

“Yes.”

“And to what effect?”

“Well, you can see that in yourself, can't you?”

They're on their way from picking up the pizza, it's just a quick walk down the block and the discussion wouldn't wait.

“You mean they want us to fall for it?”, Benedick asks.

Bea grins and shakes her head.

“They want us to fall for each other”, she explains. “They want us to defy any belief in relationships we previously had. Basically, it's a trap.”

“The Relationship Trap.”

She smiles at the movie reference. Ben doesn't seem to happy about it, though. Maybe because he's already fallen into the trap and she's still sitting outside, testing the waters. She gets out her keys and lets them back into the house.

  
  


They eat their pizza in the living room and Bea puts on some music so the silence is not as awkward. There never used to be silence with Ben, it was a constant back-and-forth of opinions, comebacks and insults. Now they think before they speak. When did that happen?

“So I'm stuck in the trap”, Benedick remarks, putting down his pizza siciliana on the plate for a moment. Beatrice takes another bite of her pizza.

(It's pizza funghi and Benedick has already complained about it: “How can you eat mushrooms? That's like the most disgusting thing!” “Well, I like it. And I don't argue about the olives on your pizza, do I? That's why we get separate pizzas, dickhead.” It's the first time she's called him that in days.)

“If we stick to the metaphor very strictly, you're not in the trap yet”, she says. “But you've fallen for the bait. It takes two to fall into the Relationship Trap and I am not that stupid.”

“I'm stupid? You've just backhand-insulted yourself, lady.”

“Pff- What? No?” She pulls a face.

“You said it's stupid that I've fallen for you”, he insisted. “Thereby saying that anyone who would ever fall in love with you is stupid-”

“Yes, because what's the point? I DON'T EVEN LIKE RELATIONSHIPS!”

She's close to tearing her hair out because this is getting more and more weird with every minute they talk about it. But she invited him inside, she promised they'd get pizza and discuss it. Sometimes talking about a problem helps but in this case it's only getting more complicated.

  
  


Ben stares at her from the other sofa and she glares back at him.

“So what are we gonna do about it then?”, he says, breaking the eye contact and pulling another slice of pizza onto his plate. It's one of her pizza and she almost comments on it but then lets it go.

“Well, that's not my problem, is it?”, she responds, giving him a sickly sweet smile. “I've not fallen for the bait. I can just walk away, ignore the whole thing and pretend it never happened.”

“Except you can't”, Benedick points out.

She furrows her eyebrows.

“Because you might not have fallen for the bait-”, he continues, his face slowly turning into a grin, “but you've fallen for me.”

“WHAT?” She almost drops her pizza at that.

(Because why is he suddenly being such a pretentious and self-centred Bene-dick about this? She wishes they were back to serious conversations and comforting hugs instead of throwing insults at each other and arguing about every single thing. For a day or two it seemed like they were getting along well, but now they were just getting back to their old selves. It sucks.)

“Come on, Bea”, he says, his stupid smile fading again. “Admit it. That night in the car, we were holding hands... And today, at the beach... I don't know about you but-”

He hesitates, then puts down his plate.

“You're scared, aren't you?”, he guesses. “You're scared that people will laugh at you because this goes completely against your beliefs. People can change. You can change. You learn and you grow and you admit to mistakes you've made in the past because that's what people do.”

She doesn't answer because he's hit the nail right on the head and it's scary how good he knows her.

“You're not a hypocrite for admitting that you're wrong”, Ben continues. “And if Pedro or Hero or whoever came up with that plan will laugh at you for falling for it, you can be the better person and thank them for it, because that plan is just plain immature.”

She chuckles at that and he smiles back at her.

  
  


Bea's just putting the plates into the dishwasher, when Ben asks: “What DID happen... that summer? When we stopped being friends?”

He's leaning over the kitchen counter, playing around with the empty glasses. She's been waiting for him to ask this question for years, been angry that he didn't ask what was wrong, that he just accepted it. But now, right here, where they get along, she's not that angry any more.

“You said something”, she replies. “And that... it hurt, okay?”

“What?”

“Yes, imagine that, you can hurt me with words.” There's undoubtedly sarcasm in her voice now.

“No, I mean, what did I say?”, he explains. “Maybe it was just a misunderstanding?”

“I'm pretty sure there was no misunderstanding”, she says, swinging herself onto the counter. “You said that you lived in the moment and didn't commit to anything. It made- I felt- I didn't think you valued our friendship.”

Ben's silent for a while.

“That was stupid of me to say”, he finally says. “I'm sorry for fourteen-year-old-me.”

“It's fine, I didn't mean to- It's old news”, she assures him, pulling her legs onto the counter to sit cross-legged. “If it's any consolation-” She blushes at the thought, smiling to herself. “Fourteen-year-old-me kind of had a crush on fourteen-year-old-you. Before the whole thing happened, that is.”

Making Ben blush might become a hobby for her. It's just to cute, the way that smile slowly spreads across his lips and he casts down his eyes.

“What about seventeen-year-old-you?”, he asks, looking back up at her. She stares back at him, opening her mouth and closing again.

(Because she KNOWS the answer to that one and she'll never dare to admit it.)

It's a spur-of-the-moment decision she makes. She leans down to him from her place on the counter and kisses him.

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh dear, this is taking me forever. Apologies to all who have been patiently waiting for another part. I’m not sure where to go from here so maybe this is the last part? (Suggestion: I'll make this 10 parts and the last will be a sort of epilogue...) And I’ll start writing drabbles instead because that’s easier…

Her eyes don't slide shut when their lips meet. She watches him, those long eyelashes touching his cheeks, hiding his dark blue eyes from her view until she pulls away. It's just a soft, sweet kiss and she lingers for a moment, her nose touching his cheek, eyes cast down because now he's looking at her again.

“Bea”, he whispers and she leans back, glancing at him.

They're eye to eye now, she on the counter, he in front of it. He puts his hands on her knees, pulling her closer to the edge.

“Try that again”, he says, his voice a bit coarse.

She smiles, takes his face into her hands and kisses him. Again. And this time he kisses her back, full force, trying to pull her closer until she manages to detangle her crossed legs, wrapping them around him. He puts his hands on her hips and opens his lips against hers and she feels like she can't breathe any more, like she doesn't need to either. They're sharing air and space and kisses.

  
  


It's Ben who breaks the kiss after all, breathing heavily. She drops her forehead on his shoulder, one arm snaked around his neck with the hand still tangled up in his dark hair. She doesn't want this to stop. She wants to feel this close to him, again and again.

“Bea?”

“Yeah?”

“You okay?”

She pulls away and smiles at him. “Yeah.”

He grins back at her. “Good.”

“What, you thought you were that bad at kissing?”, she teases.

“Just wanted to make sure”, he retorts. “That you're okay with whatever is happening and stuff.”

“And stuff?” She kisses his forehead for that.

His phone vibrates in the pocket of his shorts, she can feel it against her leg.

“You've got mail”, she says.

“Not right now”, he replies, kissing the spot below her ear.

(And how has he figured this out so quickly, that she likes that spot, that she likes being touched there, that she'll eventually stop thinking if he keeps kissing her there? Maybe it's just a fluke.)

His phone vibrates again and this time he pulls away.

“Sorry”, he mutters, taking his phone to check his messages. “My mum. It's getting late, I-”

Bea giggles and it must be the most un-Bea-like noise he must've ever heard coming out of her mouth because he looks at her like she's just sprouted a second head.

“It's- sorry, I just- I thought of something”, she tries to explain. “It's stupid.”

“What?”

“Benedick. She's Bene-dick blocking you.”

This time she can't even suppress the giggle, she just laughs at her own (albeit old) joke while Ben stares at her like she's gone mad.

“Oh come on, it's funny!”, she insists.

He finally cracks a smile and shakes his head.

“Bene-dick blocking, huh?”, he asks. “Does this mean this was going somewhere?”

“We'll never know.” She wiggles her eyebrows at him.

“You're crazy”, he says, grinning. “And admittedly, sometimes kinda funny.”

“I like you too, Dickface.”

“Say that again!”

  
  


He still has to leave but not until she's admitted to his face that she likes him back (twice) and kissed him goodbye at the front door (for five minutes).

The silence of the house feels weird after he's gone. No more laughing and talking and kissing, just her steps in the hallway. It's the first time she realises that she's home alone. No Hero or Leo to talk to. She stands in the hallway for several minutes, staring at the landline for no particular reason. Maybe she's expecting it to ring.

Finally she picks up the keys to lock the door for the night. She turns off the lights in the living room and the kitchen, walks upstairs and stumbles into her room, falling face-first onto her bed. The cushions stifle her screams. Screams she can't contain because otherwise she would be jumping up and down the walls.

(Those are the good kind of screams. Screams of joy that you can't contain any more. Screams of excitement for something that just happened, like the dark-haired blue-eyed boy who just kissed you on the kitchen counter.)

When she's done, she reaches for her phone and calls Hero.

  
  


The phone rings in the room next door, in the school bag Bea took home from the hospital. It rings for a while before voicemail answers.

“Hi, this is Hero. I'm sorry I'm unable to take your call right now but you can leave a message if you'd like and I'll call you back.”

The beep follows and it takes Bea a second to figure that she should start speaking now.

“Hi, Hero. It's Bea. I know you're in hospital right now and I'm hoping that you're getting better. You probably won't be listening to this until you get back home and maybe even then you won't figure you have a voicemail... Well, you have. This is me, talking. Because I really really need to talk to you right now. And you aren't here.”

A tear runs over her cheek and she brushes it away quickly.

“Something happened today. And you're probably gonna laugh at me for admitting this. Maybe you will have it figured out by the time you listen to this.”

She hesitates, trying to imagine her cousin, healthy and happy again, listening to her.

“Maybe this was your plan all along, Hero. Sometimes I'm not quite sure what goes on in that pretty little head of yours. But I've fallen for your trap, Hero. Laugh at me all you want. I've fallen into the Relationship Trap.”

What would she give to see Hero laugh right now. So here's to hoping this will.

“I think I might- I think I'm in- I'm in love. With Ben.”

Just the thought of it makes her smile.

“I'm in love with Benedick and he's in love with me. And- I can't tell you how happy I am right now, Hero. And I wish you were this happy too.”

She sighs.

“Obviously I- We don't know what's gonna happen next. You know I'm not the relationship kind of person. But if you listen to this, you can always just walk over into my room and ask me. Maybe I'll have come around by the time.”

The thought makes her smile.

“I'm happy, Hero. Here's to hoping you'll be too.”

She hesitates before adding: “I'll see you later.”

Then she hangs up.

  
  


She doesn't fall asleep until at least 3 AM, constantly tossing and turning. Her sleep is worse than the nights before and she feels like crap when she wakes up at 7 AM, not being able to go back to sleep.

She drags herself out of bed and under the shower, puts on clothes without any care and eats leftover apology-cake. It's still as chocolaty and fudgy as it was two days ago and it's the one thing that makes her smile this morning.

She continues to check her phone for any messages (none) and considers calling Leo for news. Maybe her aunts are already on a plane home by now. It seems to her like they are the higher power in this situation and can fix this mess. Her finger hovers over the call button but then she decides against it, leaving her phone on the kitchen table.

  
  


Her feet wander around the house without her really paying attention to it. She lingers in Hero's doorway for a moment. The camera's there, she could make a video. It's Wednesday after all. Her viewers are expecting a video someday today. But how can she do this, with Hero in hospital and her heart in a turmoil? She could lie, pretend everything's fine. But then again there are videos of the party out there. On Facebook, at least. How long until they slip onto YouTube as well? People will find out eventually.

She hasn't checked her social media accounts after what happened yesterday. It's not healthy and she doesn't need another panic attack right now. Instead she sits down on Hero's bed and pulls up her cousins school bag, fishing her phone out of it. Hero has several new messages and for a moment Bea considers reading them. Then she doesn't. Instead she deletes the one informing Hero about a new voicemail and then goes on, deleting the voicemail as well. It was a stupid idea in the first place. How unfair of her to be happy when Hero is not and then to rub it in her face. She sighs and turns the phone off before putting it back in the bag.

  
  


Leo calls when she's just finished cleaning the bathroom. It helps to calm that undertone of anxiety and the feeling of helplessness. Besides, her aunts might be coming home, so it's always good to have a clean house to present.

“How's Hero?”

She must have asked and been asked this question a hundred times in the past few days and the answer is always different.

“Better”, says Leo. “She's awake and they switched the oxygen mask for a cannula.”

“Well, that's good, right?”

“We're hoping that this is a one-time-thing. A pneumothorax normally is.”

“Okay.”

“Our mums haven't gotten a flight yet, but they're looking. Oh, and I got some good news for you-”

“I can see Hero?” She nearly shouts into the phone and she can hear Leo laugh.

“Told you, I'd make something work”, he says. “And if you come, please bring me a fresh shirt and some coffee. The one here is horrible.”

  
  


She packs Hero's stuffed teddy bear, a shirt for Leo and makes a thermos bottle filled with coffee. It's relief she's feeling, the thought that the worst has passed and from here on it'll only go up. She turns on the radio in the kitchen and dances around to that new Taylor Swift song, preparing sandwiches because surely Leo must be hungry as well.

(She can't believe she's heard a new Taylor Swift song before Hero has. And it's a catchy tune too. Not that that's her kind of music. She's more of a Sara Bareilles kind of girl.)

“Just think while you been getting down and out about the liars and the dirty dirty cheats of the world, you could have been getting down to this sick beat!”, Taylor sings.

So that's what Bea does. Impromptu dance party in the kitchen. Shaking it off. All the stress and worries of the last few days. For a few minutes they're forgotten. Until the song changes and she gets back to the sandwiches.

  
  


Leo waits at the registration for her and she doesn't know whether he's smiling because she brings coffee and sandwiches or because Hero is better and Bea gets to see her.

“I'll just leave you two for a while if that's okay”, he says when they've reached the room Hero's stationed in.

Bea nods. She wants to ask what she has to expect but Leo has already turned around, coffee and sandwich in hand, so she opens the door instead. Hero lies in the bed close to the window, wearing the pyjama Leo packed in haste yesterday.

“Hey”, Bea says, sitting down next to her and taking her hand.

Hero gives her a smile. It's weak but it's a smile.

“How are you?”

“Better.” Her voice is weak as well.

“Did they put you on pain killers?”, Bea asks.

Hero nods. Bea brushes her thumb over the back of her hand.

“You mums gonna come back”, she says. “But I guess Leo already told you that.”

“Did they get a flight?”

“No, but they're looking. So somewhere in the next few days, I guess.”

“I'm sorry.”

“For what? None of this is your fault.”

“But-”

“No, Hero, you don't get to say this. You didn't choose any of this and none of this is your fault.”

Bea leans back in her chair. Hero looks like she's about to protest but then decides otherwise.

“Tell me what's going on”, she says instead.

Bea hesitates.

“Not much”, she replies. “I'm suspended, remember? Nothing much to do when you're suspended.”

Hero chuckles.

“What?”, Bea asks. “What did I do?”

“You said the thing”, Hero replies. “Nothing Much To Do.”

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the epilogue for this story because I really needed to stop. Not only because I'm leaving for two weeks today. Thank you for all the comments and kudos! I hope to come back from vacation with lots of drabbles to post.

They grow back together, as a group, somehow. Eventually even Claudio comes around. The day he shows up at the Duke's doorstep and Beatrice is the one to open the door, she almost want to shout at him, tell him to leave and never come back. But then there's Hero next to her, who invites him in, and they sit out back on the patio and talk.

Bea tries to eavesdrop but Leo pulls her away.

“She's her own person, remember?”, he says, smirking. “Hero doesn't need your protection.”

So she goes over to Ben's, like she usually does these days, flapping down on his bed and complaining about the situation.

“You should at least give him a chance to grow and redeem himself”, Ben remarks.

She glares at him.

“You gave me a chance”, he adds. “Why not him?”

She wants to say that he didn't hurt her like Claudio hurt Hero, but what does she know about how her and Hero's feelings compare?

“He's a teenage boy-”

“Says the teenage boy.”

“Yes, and as a teenage boy I can confirm that we go through a number of changes physically and emotionally before we become a man.”

Bea tries to kick him because he's right and she doesn't know a response to that, but he moves out of her reach and then catches her foot.

“Hey!”, she complains and pulls her leg back.

He doesn't let go, so they end up on the bed together, her at the head and him at the foot, her feet in his lap.

“What if he hurts her again?”, she asks, her voice back to worried-Bea.

Ben rubs her feet.

“She can handle herself”, he says. “And she can handle Claudio too.”

  
  


Their relationship is a thing of normality now. She's gotten used to it, that she can still banter with him and discuss things and argue but then there's also the moment when she knows she's right and he won't admit it so instead he kisses her and they forget about everything for a moment. They don't hold hands at school. They don't sit next to each other at lunch break or make out against the lockers.

(Although sometimes she really wants to because there's situations where he gives her a little smirk like they're sharing a secret or turns around to look at her in History, catching her staring. There are times when she doesn't care what anyone thinks, times where she almost gives in.)

Hero's the first to find out when she turns up in the kitchen just as Ben is putting his arms around Bea, kissing her on the nose.

They both get incredibly flustered and Hero laughs at them for about five minutes before she says: “Well, finally!”

Bea's a little bit worried about telling Pedro because despite the fact that he's her best friend, she still feels like not everything's a clean slate between them.

That is until she sees him walking down the hallway, holding Balthazar's hand, and her mouth drops. She didn't see it coming but she's so relieved to see her best friend happy like that, that she walks up to him after Calculus and tells him about Ben. He won't stop teasing her for two weeks.

  
  


It's somewhere in October when they have a picnic, the same old group they were half a year ago, minus Robbie. It's Hero's idea. Hero, who's become more and more of her own person now. She might not have taken Claudio back but she's forgiven him. Forgiven and not forgotten.

If Claudio's heartbroken by that fact, he doesn't show. They're having cake (not chocolate) and lemonade and Bea has never felt this relaxed and happy in this group. She leans back on her hands and glances at Ben, who's in a discussion about Fife and the Drums with Claudio. Just a few months ago she would have chimed in, commanding attention of the debate and it would have all turned into a heated debate between Ben and her.

“Oh come on, just kiss him already!”, Pedro laughs at her, running his hand through Balthazar's hair. Balthazar, who's got his head on Pedro's lap, strumming away on his Ukulele, grinning up at his boyfriend. They're almost as sickly sweet as Claudio and Hero were when they were together.

Ben looks at him, a confused look on his face. “What?”

Pedro gestures in Bea's direction.

“Your girlfriend is making googly eyes at you and you don't even realise it”, he explains.

“Am not!”, Bea protests.

“Are too!”, Meg retorts cheerfully. “Admit it, you want the bene-dick!”

Bea grabs the next best thing in her reach which is a towel and throws it at Meg, who manages to protect her face from impact in a fit of laughter.

“It's almost as if they want us to make out in front of them”, Ben remarks. “Haven't you guys seen enough lovestruck teenagers?”

“Yeah, it's almost as if you're trying to be love gods or something”, Bea adds.

The group falls silent and stares at her.

Bea laughs at first but then stops and asks: “You guys seriously though we'd never find out about your convoluted plan to get us together?”

“Sure, putting the clips of those two in front of that video was clever, but not good enough”, Ben admits. “At least we're not as stupidly adorable as you were.”

He gestures at Hero and Claudio.

“Just kiss your damn girlfriend!”, Claudio laughs, throwing his football at him.

Ben lunges out of the line of fire and then pulls a laughing Beatrice down on the grass.

“Spare me from their comments”, he pleads.

She shakes her head at him, still laughing.

“You don't really believe they're gonna stop after this, do you?”, she asks and then leans down to kiss him.

They don't let them forget this day for months.

 


End file.
